Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 17, 2023

Good morning™, everyone!

Tracy doesn’t exactly know where the Lunarians are, but he has a pretty good idea. He’s one of the few who could say that, but he’s not going to say anything. What do you suppose it means that Smith is pretending he doesn’t know that the ring exists?

Space Coupe appears in dead of night

Dropped off by Guv to be polite.

Dwarfs the pool. ‘Tis quite a sight

Inventor Dyne knew what was right.

Magnetism. Silent flight

There is no need for fear or fright.

Now come what may and come what might

Audacious Coupe is a delight.

Good morning™, quiet reservations !

Diet asked Dick a pointed question and hopes for an answer but knows he wont get one.

Diet can be one devious fook when the situation warrants it…

The first panel is confusing, even though Ray has suggested that Diet is suggesting that Dick owes him one it’s still confusing to me. To me Mike played it out wrong, IMO in panel one it should have been Diet asking Dick where the Lunarians are. Then have the silent second panel and in the third you have Diet reminding him of the ring.

I too wonder what Diet is going to do with the Space Coupe he won’t acknowledge….

Hello, fellow secret keepers.

Tracy made a promise and he’s keeping it, regardless of Diet’s inference that he won’t tell. After all that Smith has done for Mysta, the Moon Guv showing his appreciation makes sense (if the coupe is really from him). Diet has to accept the fact that Tracy won’t betray a trust. He should know this by now considering how long they’ve known one another. Now, back to the phone scammers.

Nice to see Tracy practices selective enforcement of the law!

Chick Tracy would have slapped the handcuffs on the walking Hindeburg!

The past few weeks have been such a mess, like Dwarfs in the pool!

Lol!

It appears, to me, that Diet plans to hide the SC where no one else will see it/know about it. (That’s all I’ve got for why Diet insisted Tracy come alone .) But why does he even need to bring Tracy in on the fact? And where do you hide a 30 ton SC? (I’m assuming the weight of two school buses.) As far as I know it isn’t illegal for Smith to own/store a SC, but given the mysteries surrounded how it secretly ended up outside the mansion (we won’t ask if there was a second SC, to pick up the pilot of Sparkle Plenty) does Tracy, as an officer of the law, have any sort of duty to make some kind of report?

“Hollow that sucker out and put in a Starbucks. Though your little friend with the weird tie keeps calling late at night to suggest a deli.”

I have always wondered, why Diet hasn’t taken the Moon Coup and redesigned it with Modern Tech.

Whee—Dick needs more Lunarian Coffee—It’s a Coffee run!

“Now that we’ve introduced the Space Coupe back into the story we’ll just store it away for when we need it to pop up again for a last second daring rescue!”

Looks like tomorrow will be another unrelated side trip . Goodbye Space Coupe it was nice seeing you again .

Tracy knows (in general) where the Lunarians are. But actually knowing specifically-as in how to get there in a Space Coupe is another story. (or, is it?)

1-DOIT: Will Tracy accept my marriage proposal?

2-… Who am I fooling here? Look at that stud! There’s no way he could go for somebody who looks like a lime cake with vanilla frosting! I wonder if he knows I’m playing pocket pool right now…?

3-DT: Uh. Would you mind keeping your hands where I can see them? DOIT: Uh oh. HE KNOWS! Sure. Just give me a minute…

All I can say is…….holy crap!

Diet wears the same green sport coat, yellow striped shirt, and black tie in the panel 1 flashback as he does today. You would think a guy as wealthy as him could afford a change of clothes.

If we were giving awards for subtlety, this would win. Just on it’s own it’s a nice exchange. In the context of a confusing direction for the strip however we still have unanswered questions.

The big one for me in just this bit with Diet and Tracy is why Thorin decided to deliver the Space Coupe, call himself the “MG” when he’s no longer the Moon Governor, and disappear without even saying hi. Put yourself in his shoes and think, “I need to____,” and fill in the blank with whatever motives you think he has. Then come up with this action: “I think the best way to accomplish that is to take a couple of space coupes, paint ‘Sparkle Plenty’ on one of them, fly it up to Diet Smith’s house and park it in his swimming pool, leave a goofy handwritten note on the dash, and get out of there before he sees us.” Would you do it that way? It’s bizarre behavior.

Gee. thanks Neil

Diet Smith is the bad hammy actor, right? So why does his face look fatter in this series? Last I remember seeing him, he looked sallow and somewhat gaunt.

…so this’ll all be “top secret”…..like the original excursions to the moon that resulted in “Moon Maid” stowing away to the Earth…….

“Nobody knows nuttin, and dey ain’t telling no one neither!”

Tracy sticks to his word, given to Thorin, not to reveal the location of New Moon Valley nor where the Lunarians may be. Diet Smith picks up on Tracy’s body language quickly and easily enough and instantly decides to “no sell” the re-appeared or replicated “Sparkle Plenty” Space Coupe [that’s “What coupe?”, eavesdroppers].

Where, then, does that leave us? Is this trek to Diet’s mansion just a spacey diversion; or a set-up for a future use of this Space Coupe; or will this Smith-Tracy week somehow be tied into the several other dangling strands of a (still only potential) story?…

Having been out of the loop on reading the strip, it is not clear to me as to how Diet Smith got possession of Mr. Bribery’s ring. Not to be facetious but I cannot picture Smith obtaining it from an estate sale.

“What’ll you do with this space coupe, Diet? What coupe”? Ah, as Maxwell Smart would say the old answer a question with a question trick.

Cops took the ring when Bribery was last arrested in January 2018 I believe. That Archival loser somehow got hold of it—-it was re-confiscated and given to Diet as the“safest place” to put it.

Although considering the numerous security leaks and arch-villains who have turned up on Diet’s payroll over the years;we are allowed a little doubt here.